arizone-I-A

My family and I just got back from a trip to Arizona. We spent some time in Tucson, and Phoenix. It was lovely with temperatures in the high 80's... we finally got to dust off the old summer shorts! Tucson was as desert as it gets. We spent the first day at the Arizona-Senora Desert Musuem.

Even after we found out how long it takes a cactus to grow (a lo-o-ong time) Dan still had this testosterone driven need to want to kick one over. "But it's so vulnerable with it's tiny little base, it would fall right over"... I had to admit, after he said that, it did sound like fun. But we left the musuem cactus-kickingless.... it's probably a good thing. That same day we went to see the Mission San Xavier del Bac... a very well preserved mission that was built between 1783 and 1792. It is very ornate inside, with painted ceilings, and gold trimmed statues.... they call it the "Dove of the Desert". After we toured the chaple, we walked out to the veranda, which should have been a nice peaceful time by the fountain... but there were mean mexican dogs that were fighting, so we didn't stay too long. :)

Our condo was nice and relaxing though. Luckily, we didn't find the scorpion in the kitchen until right before we checked out. And the warthogs outside were fun to watch and friendly to the tenants. :)

The next day was a relaxing day. We swam and lounged around. Then we spent the evening in Trail Dust Town, which was a cute little western town with shopping and dining. It was really fun, the kiddos loved the train and the Wild West Show. Afterwards, we went to the Flandrau Science Center, but we were too late to see the shows, so we went and saw Saturn through the telescope, and called it a night.

I think my family discovered a new tradition for family vacations. We have to visit a restaurant that our good friend Guy Fieri has visited on his show "Diners, Drive-ins and Dives". In this case we visited Chino Bandido... the best of both Mexican and Chinese worlds fused into one. It was awesome, I had a carnitas quesadilla with chile relleno, pork fried rice, and black beans. And who doesn't love a place that gives out free snickerdoodles for dessert?

After our tummies were full of flavor, we spent the day at the Phoenix Zoo. They had this cool monkey exhibit were you could walk through the monkeys cage. They would just walk right by you. Isaac also got to ride a camel.

Our last day was spent at the Arizona Science Center, the Asian Festival going on right outside (Laos food is yummy btw), and Fox Sports Grill for dinner to watch the Jazz game. (We couldn't miss the first play-off game against the Rockets) Before dinner though, we let the kids play in one of those dancing fountains. It was a tad breezy and cold, but they all loved it.

Luckily, the flight is only an hour and fifteen minutes, so the kids did well on the plane for our 8:05am tired journey home this morning. I love a vacation, but it's always good to come home.